It’s a well-documented fact that Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is over three hours. That experience is an odyssey through the pop star’s career. Understandably, it takes a long time to get through over 17 years of music and a discography that features over 200 songs across ten albums. Now, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film is coming out on the 2023 movie schedule, and many fans have clocked that it’s shorter than the live show. With this in mind, I’ve started pondering how this concert could be shortened from over three hours to 2 hours and 45 minutes. I must admit, I’m worried about how they are going to pull it off.
Why I’m Worried About The Eras Tour Concert Film Being Shorter Than The Live Show
When Taylor Swift announced the Eras Tour movie, Swifties quickly realized its runtime was shorter than the actual live concert. Depending on the night, the “Cruel Summer” singer’s show can be anywhere from 3 hours and 15 minutes to 3 hours and 45 minutes.
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I’m semi-worried that they will cut out full songs or moments of crowd interaction for the sake of runtime. Taking out a little speech before the surprise songs, or shortening various sections, makes me feel like we will miss part of the Eras Tour. As someone who attended Taylor Swift’s show this summer, I feel very passionate about the movie including everything we saw. Fifteen to 30 minutes is a lot to take out, and I genuinely don’t know how they are going to do it without making cuts the Swifties and I don’t want.
On nights when she premiered music videos, brought out guests, or added a bonus song to the set, the show would be a bit longer. However, this did not include the concerts in Los Angeles, which were filmed for the movie. For these, Swift played “No Body, No Crime” with HAIM rather than the typical “'Tis the Damn Season” during the evermore section, and she added “Long Live” to the permanent set not long before this trio of concerts. With this in mind, they should clock in on the shorter end of the over 3-hour runtime.
During the first three concerts in the City of Angels, no announcements happened, and everything went according to plan. It feels like there is nothing that could be taken out. This begs the question: What did they cut?
How They Might Shorten Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour
When I think about what can be subtracted from the show, my immediate answer is the transitions. There are a few moments throughout the concert where Swift goes backstage to change, and a video plays, or a short song can be heard. However, those transitions are done with intention, and they aren’t that long, so I don’t see the point in taking them away.
Taking out the stage dive or the moment where one of the dancers opens the Red box would make me feel sad. I'm certain many Swifties would feel the same way too. There truly isn't a lot of filler or fluff in this show, so cutting it down by 15 to 30 minutes feels impossible.
Although, I guess every penny counts, and that applies in this situation. Maybe, shaving 30 seconds to a minute off of each set right before she comes back on stage could account for the at least 15 minutes taken out for the film.
However, I don’t think that accounts for all the changes that will be made for the Eras Tour to reach 2 hours and 45 minutes. Every night, Swift typically gives a little speech during the sets for Lover, evermore, Red, folklore, and the surprise songs. They’re not long moments, typically they involve the singer thanking the fans, and talking about her albums, re-records, and openers. She’ll also comment on the night’s crowd and occasionally introduce a surprise song. While I don’t want them to cut any of these sweet moments of interaction with the Swifties, this feels like what’s most likely to happen.
I sincerely don’t think they’re going to cut any of the songs from the Eras Tour film. I also doubt they’d turn some sets into montages. However, we can't totally rule it out. If they do that though, I have a feeling they’re going to face the wrath of the Swifties.
What We Learned From The Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour Concert Film
It’s worth noting that for the Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour concert film (which is available with a Netflix subscription) the runtime of the recording and the live show is about the same. If you watch it on streaming, it’s 2 hours and 5 minutes. The live show ran about 2 hours and 15 minutes on average. The transitions are seamless, all the video interludes are in the Netflix special, Swift’s speeches are present, and everything felt intact. If something was cut, I didn’t notice it.
With that in mind, I’d assume the Eras Tour movie will be similar. My guess is they simply trimmed down a few moments, leaving in as much of the speeches and supplemental videos as they could.
This leads me to the conclusion that by cutting down the transitions and possibly taking away or editing down a speech or two, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour will end up shrinking from over 3 hours to 2 hours and 45 minutes. However, that’s not confirmed. And since we won’t know until the movie comes out on October 13, I’ll be staying worried and a tad cautious until I’m sitting in my seat watching the concert film with all my friendship bracelets.
